You can have a Blogger blogspot blog and a Wordpress blog on the same domain. This will enable you to have the best of both worlds. The minimal cost is ten dollars for Blogger plus fifteen dollars for Wordpress (not including hosting).

WHAT IS A DOMAIN?

A domain is a group of computers on the Internet with a common ending like .com, .edu, .info, .net etc. Since DOT COM (.com) endings sound impressive it is best to choose them. I chose to go for a .com domain. You can go for whatever you wish .net, .info etc depending on availability.

WHAT IS A DOMAIN NAME?

A domain name is the part before the DOT com/net/info/edu/gov... You can buy a domain name from any authorized domain name dealer provided it is available. If available it can come as cheap as $7 to $10. Most hosting providers like Bluehost.com offer it free if purchased along with a hosting plan. With Bluehost you can even pay usig Paypal. I chose Vintip as the domain name. You can choose whatever you want after checking to see if it is available. It is best to choose a keyword based domain name for search engine optimization purposes.

You can also buy a domain name through Blogger for $10. You get :

For $10 only, one year domain registration.

Free Private domain registration.

Domain Manager

Google Services auto configured

Free Email, calendar, instant messaging, web pages and more.

WHAT IS A URL/ADDRESS?

Once you buy the domain name you have an address : http://www.example.com. Here 'example' is the domain name and '.com' the domain. Now that you have an address it is time to create a blog in it. My new address became http://www.vintip.com.

CREATE WORDPRESS BLOG

Login to your hosting provider after selecting and buying a hosting plan. On the Control Panel (cPanel) you will usually be provided with a single click Wordpress install script. On Bluehost.com click the Simple Scripts link under Software/Services section on the cPanel. Then click on Wordpress under Blogs. Lastly click the Install Now button. Under Install Options choose the latest stable version and choose to install it on your domain at http:/www.example.com. Click the options to create an Admin login and to generate database and check the legal information and click Complete button to install Wordpress.

(Different hosting providers will have different options.)

Your Wordpress blog will be created at your domain 'example.com'. My wordpress blog is located at Vintip.com. If you want to have FREE HOSTING create blog at Wordpress.com and then use domain mapping (see below).

WHAT IS A SUBDOMAIN?

A subdomain is a method of dividing your site into sections. For example our domain (example.com) can be divided into http://music.example.com, http://politics.example.com, http://films.example.com. You can make any number of subdomains according to your interests. In above example music, politics and films are subdomains of example.com. If you have three different blogspot blogs on each of the above topics you can redirect them to the respective subdomains. They will continue to be hosted at Blogger but will now have a new address ending in DOT COM without the BLOGSPOT.COM in the url.

CREATE SUBDOMAINS

To create a subdomain login to your domain name provider. If it is bluehost.com click Subdomains link under Domains section on the cPanel. On next screen type in a subdomain name and click Create button. Repeat to create as many subdomains as you want. I create a subdomain 'seo' for my blogspot blog. My subdomain is http://seo.vintip.com

CONFIGURE SUBDOMAINS FOR BLOGGER

After creating the subdomain it is time to change the CNAME settings for it. This has to be done to redirect a Blogspot blog to your subdomain. For Bluehost all DNS changes will need to be done through a Bluehost Technician. For this they have provided a Live Chat facility on their home page. You have to give the address of your subdomain created in above section (music.example.com) and ask them to change the CNAME to ghs.google.com. Once record is changed it takes about 1-4 hours to propagate through the DNS servers.

CHECK SUBDOMAIN CNAME

To check whether it has been done open a command prompt window on PC after 6 hours of changing it. At the prompt type :

ping music.example.com

Replace 'music' and 'example' with your own subdomain and domain names and press Enter key. You should get this type of response :

REDIRECTING BLOGSPOT TO SUBDOMAIN

Once the subdomain has been set up it is time to redirect your blogspot blog to the subdomain. Login at Blogger.com. Click Settings link under your blog title on Dashboard. Click Publishing subtab. On Publishing subtab click Switch to Custom Domains link. Under Buy a Domain Name click "Switch to Advanced Settings' link. In Your Domain text box type in your subdomain :

WHAT IS HOSTING

Web hosting is where you purchase space on a web server to provide physical space for your site files. I have purchased a hosting plan at Bluehost.com. My Blogspot Blog is hosted at Blogger for free and redirected to my subdomain using Custom Domains feature. My Wordpress blog is hosted at Bluehost. If you want a free Wordpress hosting you can create a blog at Wordpress.com and redirect it using their Domain Mapping feature.

REDIRECTING WORDPRESS.COM TO SUBDOMAIN

If you want to save on hosting costs create a Wordpress blog at Wordpress.com and then redirect it to your domain using their Domain Mapping feature. It will cost $20/year to purchase and map the domain to your blog.

ADVANTAGES

Simple domain name eg Vintip.com. Easy to remember for readers.

No blogspot/wordpress in domain name.

Your blogs still hosted for free at Blogger/Wordpress.

Put multiple blogspot blogs on a single domain using multiple subdomains.

Increase Blog Traffic.

Consolidate multiple blogs under one site.

Cheap as no hosting costs.

Can still use Layouts Templates. (FTP blogs have to use Classic Templates.)

For any blog changes/updating login at Blogger.com and use Blogger Dashboard.

No worries about blog security/bandwidth/space as it is still managed by Blogger.

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comments:

This is such a timely post for me --- I'm about to create a small website for a dance academy and this sounds perfect. It gives such flexibility and Word Press will be good at managing their schedules, photos and other fresh content. Later they could integrate any blogger blogs which might be easier for them to update.

Thank you for this thorough presentation with great examples. I can't wait to try this approach.

It was a happy day that I found your Blog. Have spent much time researching your posts. This afternoon I switched to the Three Column Sanddollar following your instructions. Backed with what I had gleaned from your other posts, I had the courage to tweak it further.I miss using the Herbert Template because of all the extra control over so many parts of the layout. Wish I could have a 3 column Herbert and be able to control the color, size and fonts of everything including the background colors of all three columns. haha maybe I'm just power hungry now.The main point is - Thank you very much for this blog !You've been a tremendous help!

Vin you have been a star top me today and it seems you are coming up with all the solutions to all my gripes. This is very appealing to me because i had already created my wordpress site before changing the cname and think i will go for this. However i would like the redirection to go to and it bring me to the next question. Would skincareivy.com on wordpress benefit from the backlinks going to skincareivy.com/blog or it will be treated as a separate site. I am 100% going for this method i think

hello vin thanks for great information.ok i have coustom domain named sarkarinaukri.net with blogger purchased directly from blogger custom domain option. but now i want to transfer this blog to wordpress. i know all tranfer procedure that how to transfer to wordpress?.

But Plz guide can i keep my old domain name sarkarinaukri.net for wordpress or not. if yes then plz guide how ?

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Comments posted on Dummies Guide to Google Blogger (Beta) are moderated and will be approved only if they are on-topic and not abusive. Try not to include website URLs/links in your comments. You can email me : drbhatns at gmail dot com for any blogging question. Thanks,